At last, a free man: Fatullayev talks with CPJ

Independent editor Eynulla Fatullayev, a CPJ award recipient,
spent four years in prison on spurious charges of defamation, terrorism, tax
evasion, and drug possession. All were fabricated to prevent him from
publishing his searing exposés critical of the Azerbaijani government. On
Thursday, after years of intense advocacy by CPJ and others, Fatullayev
received a presidential pardon and was freed. "Although it took far too long,"
said CPJ board member Gwen Ifill, "we are deeply gratified at Fatullayev's
release, and look forward to the moment when we can hand him his 2009 press
freedom award in person." Europe and Central Asia Program Coordinator Nina
Ognianova reached Fatullayev at his Baku home today and talked with him about
his experience as a political prisoner and the circumstances surrounding his
sudden release.

Q: Yesterday, you were released from
prison, after having spent four years behind bars on trumped-up charges. How do
you feel?

A: I am still in disbelief. My release
was sudden. Of course I hoped for it, but I didn't expect it.

Q: Tell us about your treatment in
prison.

A: During these four years, I was
subjected to various provocations that were apparently carried out on the
political order of the highest level. The government was especially angered
after the European Court of Human Rights ordered my immediate release [in March
2010]. In the months after the decision was published, I was sent to solitary
confinement multiple times, under different, ridiculous pretexts.

Q: Give us an example.

A: For instance, I was told once that I
was smoking on the wrong floor. And for that I received three days in the
solitary. This was selective treatment; none of the other inmates would get such
severe punishment for such minor violations.

Q: You were sent to several different
jails. Why was the penitentiary service moving you around and how did prison
administrators explain that?

A: In the beginning of my imprisonment,
I spent two months in a Baku pre-trial detention center. Then I was transferred
to a prison facility run by the Azerbaijani security service (MNB)--this was a
military prison. The conditions there were very strict--for instance, I was
banned from communicating with the outside world; I couldn't send or receive any
letters; my family was prevented from visiting me; and I couldn't read
newspapers. In the nine months I spent there, I was in total isolation. That,
as well as the frequent 'trips' to the solitary, were no doubt intended to
exhaust me physically and psychologically. After that, I was moved Prison
Colony No. 12, then back to a Baku pre-trial detention center, and finally to the
Strict Regime Penal Colony No. 1.

Q: Did prison administrators explain
why you were being moved around?

A: They were quite candid. They would
say, 'You understand, the country is in a pre-election mood, and you are a
hazard.' This was the most worrisome part for me--that they weren't even trying
to hide behind some pretext. They would directly tell me that they were
following orders.

Q: Whose orders?

A:That
they wouldn't say. They would just say that those were orders "from above."

Q: At one point, you asked to be put in
solitary confinement. Tell us why.

A: This was the most terrible part of
my time in jail--my deliberate move to Strict Regime Penal Colony No. 1. This is
a place where the most dangerous of criminals are locked up--murderers, heads of
organized crime groups, repeat offenders...people who can be bought easily to do
someone else's bidding. And they are. The day I was transferred to that prison,
I was put in a area next to several criminal authorities. (I was on hunger
strike at the time, protesting my continued detention despite the European
Court's decision to free me.) My new cell neighbors then told me that I must
stop my hunger strike and stop my statements from prison "or else things will
end very badly for me."

Then and
there I knew that I was in physical danger and I may not get out of there
alive. I was forced to ask the warden to move me to solitary confinement for my
own protection. At first, the prison administration denied my request but I
continued to insist, citing Azerbaijani law that obligated penitentiary
officials to ensure the safety of inmates, particularly when they have received
threats.

Q: How long were you in the solitary?
What were the conditions there?

A: I spent the entire month of March
there. The conditions were heavy. It was very cold and the rat population was
ample. I would wake up in the middle of the night, invaded by them, and I would
have to wrestle my way back to peace. My health also suffered because of that.

Q: Tell us about your health.

A: I didn't want to talk about my
health while I was in jail, not even to my lawyers, because I didn't want to worry
my parents. But, yes, there were problems. The cold and the unsanitary
conditions in the prisons took their toll. I contracted a number of urinary
diseases, skin and internal infections... At one point I got an abscess on my leg--the
result of an infection--which had to be operated on.

Q: Did you receive medical treatment
when you needed it?

A: I did. But I frequently fell ill. At
one point, doctors treated a case of what had become a chronic cystitis [inflammation
of the urinary bladder] for the duration of nine months before I got better. It
was because of the cold. It was always very cold...

Q: Were you hospitalized?

A: No, I refused it. I feared that some
provocation against me may be organized there.

Q: Did you ask the president to pardon
you?

A: No, I never did.

Q: Who told you that you were
free to go. Tell us how it happened.

A: Yesterday, at around 6 p.m., the
head warden of Strict Regime Penal Colony No. 1, Gakhraman Bagirov, told me to
pick up my things and go with him. Then, just like that, he put me in a car and
personally drove me home. He told me the president had just signed a decree to pardon
me.

Q: Are there any conditions to your
release?

A: None.

Q: Did you feel the support of the
international community from behind the prison walls?

A: The fact that I am alive and free
today is without any exaggeration due to the relentless campaign of the
international community to release me. I am in particular grateful to CPJ
because you never got tired of advocating on my behalf, of supporting me and my
family when we needed that the most. All your actions, all your statements,
your visits to Azerbaijan, to the Azerbaijani Embassy ... all that gave me an enormous
morale boost. Your actions kept the public attention on my case. And that, in a
sense, gave me immunity. I believe it literally saved my life.

Q: How did you learn about the actions
of the international community in your support?

A: My lawyers told me everything. I
knew of all your statement, petitions, meetings, etc. And I was impressed by
the principled position of CPJ--you were the first organization that declared my
imprisonment politically motivated. You cannot realize what if feels like to
have that kind of support when you are in isolation. You cannot realize the
level at which it matters.

Q: What are your plans for the future?

A: You know, journalism is my calling.
Many people have been asking me since my release whether I will continue my
work as an editor, whether I will restart publishing my newspapers. My reply to
this is such: If the Azerbaijani authorities can guarantee me that I will be
able to publish independently, without any attempts to influence my editorial
line, then, yes, I will gladly return to journalism.

Right now,
though, I am still in the euphoria of being free, of being surrounded by family
and friends. I would like to take some time to rest and enjoy.

(Reporting
from Moscow)

Nina Ognianova is coordinator of CPJ’s Europe and Central Asia Program. A native of Bulgaria, Ognianova has carried out numerous fact-finding and advocacy missions across the region. Her commentaries on press freedom have appeared in the Guardian, the International Herald Tribune, the Huffington Post, and the EU Observer, among others. Follow her on Twitter @Kremlinologist1

1 comments

It seems to be a continuous dance as more countries move towards, or into the periphery of Democracy. Journalists have become soldiers on the front line of Democracy - fighting battles with words, waging war with their computer keystrokes.

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